This invention relates to spring coil assemblies, and more particularly to a spring coil assembly with sinuous wires supplying a support base for hour-glass coils with a transparent noise reducing material disposed between the two.
There are various types of spring coil constructions used in manufacturing furniture. However, the various spring coil assemblies often result in noisy operation after several years of use. This noise is a result of the wires in the coils rubbing against the material used for support upon weight bearing and removal of weight. A typical means of reducing this noise (and one which applicant's assignee has used in products sold for more than one year) has been to dispose woven fabric between the coil springs and the support base. One disadvantage to the use of woven fabric is that it masks the internal construction of the coil assembly of the furniture in which it is used. With woven fabric disposed between the support base and the coil springs, a customer is unable to visually inspect the coil assemblies of the furniture that he or she is considering buying. Additionally, in the event that the chair becomes damaged, a repairman is unable to do an initial visual inspection to determine whether it is necessary to remove a portion of the coil spring assembly. Therefore, a repairman is required to remove the support base and the fabric disposed therebetween in order to determine whether the problem arises from damage to the coil springs.
Several patents have been discovered which disclose various coil spring assemblies. The following is a list of patents which relate in one way or another to the present invention.
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Date Issued ______________________________________ 1,206,073 Young 11/28/16 1,218,770 Hills 3/13/17 2,234,253 Hopkes 3/11/41 2,255,958 Asaro et al. 9/16/41 2,272,807 Kronheim 2/10/42 2,280,912 Hopkes 4/28/42 2,680,475 Caton 6/08/54 2,729,830 Gleason 1/10/56 4,348,014 Litkewycz 9/07/82 ______________________________________
Young (U.S. Pat. No. 1,206,073) discloses a seat spring with a plurality of hour-glass coil springs arranged in rows and columns which are connected together at their tops by clips. The marginal springs are connected at the tops to a wire border. Sinuous springs are encased in cloth pockets and extend across the tops of the hour-glass coils. The sinuous springs do not provide a bottom support to the hour-glass coils.
Hills (U.S. Pat. No. 1,218,770) discloses a spring assembly with a plurality of coil springs arranged in a row with the tops of the springs in each row being attached to a sinuous support spring. Rather than attaching the springs in a row together with a helical wire and then attaching the row to the sinuous wire in only three places, as is done with the present invention, Hills attaches each spring to the sinuous wire with four clips. Additionally, Hills does not describe a transparent sheet of material juxtaposed between the coil springs and the sinuous springs, nor the attaching of the tops and bottoms of the springs in a row with a helical wire.
Hopkes (U.S. Pat. No. 2,234,253) discloses a spring support with a plurality of sinuous springs forming a top spring surface and bottom spring surface joined by a second plurality of sinuous springs transversely oriented with regard to the top sinuous springs. Coil springs are disposed between the top surface and bottom surface and strips of webbing are placed between the coil springs and the sinuous springs to prevent squeaking caused by metal to metal rubbing. Hopkes does not disclose attaching the tops and bottoms of the hour-glass coil springs with a helical wire nor the use of a transparent material between the coil and sinuous springs.
Asaro et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 2,255,958) discloses a spring cushion structure with a base which appears to be hour-glass coil springs arranged in rows with the marginal springs attached at the top to a border wire. The weight bearing surface of the spring assembly is a plurality of sinuous springs disposed over the hour-glass coil base structure. Material is disposed between the base and the sinuous springs to provide a sound deadening means. Asaro does not disclose the attachment of the hour-glass springs with helical wires nor the use of a transparent material between the hour-glass springs and sinuous springs which support the hour-glass springs.
Kronheim (U.S. Pat. No. 2,272,807) discloses an upholstery construction with a wood frame having a plurality of hour-glass springs arranged in rows contained therein. The tops of the hour-glass springs are connected to each other and to the wood frame by tie cords instead of having the tops connected to each other by helical wire and to a wire border by clips. The bottoms of the hour-glass springs rest on a piece of burlap which is attached under tension to the wooden frame. The bottoms of the hour-glass springs are not connected by helical wires. Disposed below the burlap, but not directly under the springs, are a plurality of sinuous springs with bends on either end to allow for attachment of the sinuous springs to the top of the wood frame. Because the burlap is tensioned between the bottom of the frame, the ends of the sinuous springs must extend through the burlap. FIG. 9 discloses an embodiment where the sinuous springs are disposed directly under the hour-glass springs with material strip webbing disposed therebetween.
Hopkes (U.S. Pat. No. 2,280,912) discloses a spring structure with spiral coil springs arranged in rows and columns. The coil springs are connected at the bottom to structural cross members. The marginal coils are joined at the top to a border wire. Sinuous springs extend above the top of the coil springs to form a support surface. No material is disposed between the coil and sinuous springs to reduce noise. Also, the sinuous springs don't form a bottom support for the coil springs.
Caton (U.S. Pat. No. 2,680,475) discloses a spring seat construction with a plurality of fabric encased coil springs arranged in rows and columns atop a plurality of braces. The tops of the fabric encased coil springs are connected to each other by criss-crossed helical wire connections and the marginal coil springs are attached to an upper border frame. Extending across the coil springs in a plurality of sinuous springs. The sinuous springs don't provide bottom supports to the coil springs.
Gleason (U.S. Pat. No. 2,729,830) discloses a spring assembly unit with a plurality of coil springs arranged in rows with the tops of adjacent rows of springs connected by helical wires and the marginal coil springs attached to a border wire. The base of the springs are connected to sinuous support springs. Gleason neither teaches nor suggests that transparent material may be juxtaposed between the bottoms of the coil springs and the sinuous support springs to reduce noise caused by friction between these elements, while still allowing visual inspection of the spring assembly. Gleason also does not disclose the hour-glass springs which are connected at the top and bottom by helical wire but instead connects each coil spring to the sinuous support springs.
Litkewycz (U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,014) discloses a torsion bar spring auxiliary panel for a bedding unit. The auxiliary panel has a wire border with sinuous springs extending therebetween. The auxiliary panel lies on a base with hour-glass coil springs arranged in rows and columns within a border wire. The coil springs are hooked together in some manner with helical connector springs. No mention appears to be made of disposing a transparent material between the sinuous springs and coil springs to reduce noise.